The Purr-fect Crime

Chapter 19

When I got back to the clinic, Charlotte was waiting for me, talking to Sophie in the lobby area while Karen was on the phone scheduling an appointment.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked. Charlotte rarely came to the vet clinic; she was almost always either at school in Portland or at home studying.

“I just came over to say I heard about a huge pro-Ocean Mist rally happening in a couple of hours. Apparently a whole bunch of the head honchos from the project are going to make an appearance – you know, to rally the troops and all that. I thought maybe we should go, and casually ask some questions, you know. See if there’s anything they can tell us that might lead us to Tony’s killer.”

“Yeah, exactly. Our last appointment today is at 4:15, so you can take care of that, Charlotte and I can head over earlier, and then you can join us when you close up.”

It was a good idea, but to be honest, I really didn’t want to hang around with a whole bunch of people who were actually in favour of Ocean Mist. It was just so bad for the town. Still, Charlotte had come up with a good idea.

“Yeah, sure,” I said. “Plus I found out a few things from Chief Gary. Come on, let’s go chat in the back.” I motioned to Karen that we were going in the back room; she knew to come and get us when our next patient arrived.

The back room of the vet clinic was where we stored all the extra equipment, and housed the cages for our patients who required an overnight stay. At the moment, we didn’t have anyone in them, and the place was empty.

Charlotte leaned against a counter while Sophie rested against the wall. I took the chair by a small desk in the corner of the room and swivelled it around to face my sister and best friend.

Five minutes later, I had recounted everything Chief Gary had told me about the map.

“It has to all be about the resort. I know it. It just has to,” Charlotte said.

“Oh, that wasn’t all,” I added, remembering. “There were also the guys we took pictures of at the funeral. You know how there was something weird about them?”

“Yeah,” Sophie replied. “I don’t trust them.”

“Well, Chief Gary told me they were businessmen from Portland, and that they checked out.”

Sophie let out a laugh that almost sounded more like a bark.

“HA! What a liar.”

“That’s what I thought,” I said, “but I couldn’t get him to admit it and tell me the truth. I was hoping Charlotte would help us out with a truth spell at some point.”

“Oh there’s definitely no need to get witchy with things,” Sophie said. “I know he’s lying, and I know the truth.”

“What? How?” Charlotte and I both asked. Suddenly Sophie looked a little bit more abashed.

“Ummm… I just kind of… know a guy.”

“Oh my God,” I said, everything suddenly clicking. “It’s Taylor. Taylor told you.”

The blush creeping up Sophie’s face gave her away.

“HA! I claimed, triumphantly. I knew you were going out with someone. You’ve been acting weird since you had to give him your statement.”

“Wait, Taylor as in the guy from the family of cops?” Charlotte asked, and I nodded, probably a bit too enthusiastically.

“OHMYGOD,” Charlotte exclaimed. “How come you didn’t tell us sooner?”

“Because I knew you guys would make fun of me,” Sophie said, crossing her arms and jutting out her chin. I grinned.

“Awwwwwww, why would you think we’d make fun of you?” I asked.

“Because the last few boyfriends I’ve had you guys gave me so much crap over them that I don’t trust you guys anymore.”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” I protested. “We weren’t going to make fun of Taylor. After all, unlike your last few boyfriends, he has a job.”

“And doesn’t wear denim vests,” Charlotte added helpfully.

“Or convinces you to dine and dash because he can’t pay for dinner.”

“Or turn out to have a criminal record.”

“Or convinces you to have sex with him dressed up as a Pokemon.”

“I’m not telling you guys anything again, ever,” Sophie grumbled as Charlotte and I cracked up. Sophie was notorious for her bad, bad taste in men. And honestly, compared to the ones she’d dated before, Taylor was easily the cream of the crop. Hell, he could turn out to have a weird fetish and still be ranked higher than all the others. It wasn’t a high bar to clear.

“We’re sorry, Sophie,” Charlotte said, trying to stifle a laugh. “Please, tell us what you found out.”

“Sure, you like this boyfriend because he’s useful for giving you guys information.”

“Oh please, we haven’t said we like him yet,” I told her. “We just think he’s better than the moron procession that makes up your ex-boyfriends.”

“That’s just so much better. At least I get some action. You’re all Mother Theresa up in here,” Sophie retorted, motioning at me.

“Hey, it’s not my fault I have standards,” I replied. What? It was true. Mostly. I just hadn’t found a guy that I wanted to be with in a while. It’s not like Willow Bay had a whole pool of options to pick from.

“Ok, that’s enough,” Charlotte said, raising her hands. “We’re getting off topic.” Sophie and I glared at each other.

“Sophie,” Charlotte ordered. “What did Taylor say about those three guys.”

“So on my lunch break I went out with Taylor. We just went to Subway, and while we were there he told me that he found out who those guys we took a picture of at the funeral were.”

Charlotte and I waited with bated breath for Sophie to continue.

“It turns out they’re mob dudes from New York.”

“Seriously?”

Sophie nodded.

“Yeah. Like straight up gangster dudes. Apparently they’re part of some Italian mob family. I literally thought that stuff was pretty much movies-only, but we had three of them right here in Willow Bay.”

“I wonder what they were doing at the funeral,” Charlotte mused.

“Isn’t it obvious?” I replied. “They had to know Tony Nyman.”

“But how?” Charlotte asked.

“Well,” I said, thinking. “What was it that Chief Gary said when we found out who it was? Nyman had only lived in Willow Bay for ten years. What if he used to be in the mob? What if he moved away for whatever reason, and was lying low here? And then maybe the mob guys found him, and they came and killed him?”

“But then why would they come to the funeral?” Charlotte asked.

“They’re mobsters. They know that they’re not going to get caught. Like, it’s not as if they’re afraid of the cops or anything, they wouldn’t have cared about being seen in public,” Sophie said. “As soon as Taylor told me I couldn’t wait until the three of us were together again so I could tell you. This totally means that my theory was right, and it was those weird guys at the funeral that were responsible.”

“Ok hold up,” I said. “Yeah, those dudes are sketch. Especially given the fact that they’re mobsters. But that doesn’t definitely mean that they were involved in Nyman’s death. Though I agree, it seems pretty likely.”

Charlotte began to pout. “Does that mean you guys don’t want to come to the Ocean Mist rally in a couple hours then?”

“We’ll still go,” I told her, shooting Sophie a look. I knew Sophie wanted to skip out on it, but I thought that was a bad idea. My best friend wisely nodded.

“Yeah, we’ll go.”

Just then Karen popped her head in to tell me that our next patient, a dog suffering from the itchies, was ready to be seen. Spring was allergy season for dogs as much as for humans.